Barely Sane's Hootenanny

"Batman: Arkham Kitty" roughs in progress...

2011-12-23T09:48:00.000-08:00

Jill "TheNerdyBird" Pantozzi suggested this via Twitter, so she gets the original...but boy, do I suck at drawring kittehs. Reference time!

No one knows what it's like...

2011-10-28T22:00:00.001-07:00

....Gears of NERF!

2011-10-02T10:15:00.000-07:00

...or maybe "Ginormous SHinpads of War". This morning's hasty digital scumble/warmup.

Be careful out on the parapet, kids.

2011-09-23T14:14:00.000-07:00

New sketch for Friday.

...Conventional Batfeller!

2011-08-15T22:30:00.000-07:00

A con sketch from last weekend's Wizardworld. The fan was kind enough to take a pic
& email it to me. Ain't technology wunnerful?

...Poolside Vigil Produces Watermarked Sketch!

2011-07-29T20:55:00.000-07:00

Don't yet have a name for this Human Growth Hormone Adonis,
but I do have a half-baked story...

...Sketchy Character

2011-07-15T21:20:00.000-07:00

Don't know quite what to do with this guy...paint 'im, maybe,
or leave 'im under the bridge where I found 'im.

Day #9: Flint, Michigan

2011-07-09T22:22:00.000-07:00

Backlogged due to some personal circumstances...
tried to get a likeness of Robert Mitchum without resorting to caricature.
Failed miserably, but failing in public can be a wonderful incentive.

Mitchums's got an amazing, complex mug. I'll have to take another shot, later.

Sketch Day #7: The Jersey Devil

2011-07-07T05:27:00.000-07:00

From the golden days of boxing;
Here's a shot of Joe Walcott vs. Rex Layne, 1950.

Day #5: Swords for $300

2011-07-05T21:55:00.000-07:00

I can't draw like the Old Masters, so I'll just draw an Old Master.
This is Jiang Rong Jiao, one of the most prolific author/teachers
of Pakuachang and various other obscure chinese arts, around the turn of the century.

Day #4: That "Firefly" Guy

2011-07-04T12:37:00.000-07:00

Loosening up a bit...I have a (completely heterosexual) man-crush on the great Alan Tudyk,
and since I just got to see my very first uninterrupted "Firefly" episode...why not.
Even though it's a lousy likeness.

Day 2: Cantonese Take-Out

2011-07-03T16:57:00.000-07:00

There are those days where it feels like I've forgotten how to draw,
if I ever knew at all. Here's one that felt like it just wasn't happening:
a sketch of my Liu Ho Pa Fa Quan teacher as a young man
during the mid-1970's.

Day 1: Baying at the Dark Side of the Moon

2011-07-01T13:35:00.000-07:00

I rarely draw for pleasure, these days. So, motivated by some of my ridiculously talented friends, I'm starting up a "31 Days of Graphite" for the month of July.

...Because everything's better with Bat-bonnet on it.

2011-06-17T21:09:00.000-07:00

Couldn't be helped, really.

Spec War!

2011-06-08T17:12:00.000-07:00

Just did this sample for an as-yet-unnamed studio...not to worry, this ain't happening in a game or movie. Just a crazy make-'em-up.

...Sturgis Bad-Ass Grampa from Reykjavík

2011-05-23T11:54:00.000-07:00

Rough character sketch for a proposal from the brilliant Stefan Petrucha.

Memories of James, Lumbricus Terrestris!

2011-04-10T16:54:00.000-07:00

A double-page spread from "Earthworm Jim",
a limited series I drew for Marvel, back in the day...

Grit in my sketchbook.

2011-03-29T12:42:00.000-07:00

I do some of my best work on dinner napkins.

2011-03-23T08:56:00.000-07:00

Some sort of Cyber-Soldier-Hoo-hah,
discarded ballpoint pen on discarded paper, 4" x 5"

Krampus is coming!

2010-12-04T06:58:00.001-08:00

...sketches for this year's Christmas card.
Having way too much fun researching this.

The Kevlar Dynasty

2010-11-15T11:55:00.000-08:00

...about an hour in the sketchbook, warming up for some concept art.
Not too crazy about those hexagonal gauntlets...

...Suits Me

2010-09-30T09:25:00.000-07:00

Yesterday's pencil sketch,
based on the newfangled Raytheon exoskeleton prototype.

Unknown Thumbs

2010-09-28T11:02:00.000-07:00

...from a forgotten project.
Thumbnail breakdowns are my favorite part of the process.

...PIRATE DAY!

2010-09-20T12:28:00.000-07:00

I banged this out in an hour as a warmup sketch this morning,
prismacolor pencils on canson paper, inspired by Steve Purcell's Blog.
Used no reference 'cept for the RIng-Tailed Lemur...

HALO Soldier...

2010-09-04T13:33:00.000-07:00

Picking away at this sketch...some rough color added.
O Mighty Craig Mullins, Hear My Plea!

Been a while, here's an update...

2010-03-10T14:31:00.001-08:00

Refinement on the Pneumatic Fellow.
Colour to follow...

Mister Rogers

2009-10-13T11:38:00.000-07:00

STEVE Rogers, that is.
Here's in-progress pencils for
an "Ultimate Captain America" drawring
for a most excellent friend's most excellent nephew.

...NURBS!

2009-10-07T11:08:00.000-07:00

Non-Uniform Rational B-Splines.
That's all I can think of.

Progressive Resistance

2009-10-01T12:34:00.000-07:00

Been absent for a while--
here's an attempt at getting
more rough stuff posted on a reg'lr basis.
I'll take this fellow all the way to full color...

Remembering Del...

2009-03-02T14:29:00.000-08:00

New stuff, in rough thumbnails:
the beginning of a Del Close anecdote.
John Ostrander shared this story with me,
and I'll keep pecking away at it until it's
at least in animatic form.

...Ruh-Roh!

2009-02-11T11:33:00.000-08:00

Been offline for a while--I've just wrapped up work on a "Scooby-Doo"
direct-to-DVD movie for Warner Bros, and here are a few pages of initial roughs,
with finishes to come.
It's been surprisingly fun & challenging, drawing the Scooby Gang...
Iwao Takamoto's original 1969 character designs are deceptively simple.

..Audition Knight, part one

2008-08-26T15:54:00.000-07:00

Something lost has now been found;
a series of initial sketches for my
first "Batman Beyond" audition,
when the first season was airing on the Kids' WB--
it got dissected (constructively!)
by series director Dan Riba,
and I auditioned twice more before landing the gig.
Still, Dan liked the energetics of the initial attempt.

...Audition Knight, part deux

2008-08-26T15:52:00.001-07:00

...Audition Knight, part trois

2008-08-26T15:41:00.000-07:00

...SMACK

2008-08-22T20:42:00.000-07:00

Haven't posted anything new for too long; here's a phone-sketch for the moment.
When in doubt, draw a human body doing something dynamic...one of my favorite
human-figure resources of all time is Mas Oyama's hardcover "THIS IS KARATE",
circa 1976 or so.

The Third Bunny

2008-07-08T11:07:00.000-07:00

Sketches from a character idea I'm batting around.
"Watership Down", it ain't...

"...I never Metatarsal I didn't like."

2008-06-20T00:07:00.000-07:00

Well, I guess Will Rogers never met THIS guy...
lookit the FEET I drawed on 'im! What gives?!!

...Moleskine-Fu!

2008-06-19T11:11:00.000-07:00

I do a lot of sketching, but only recently switched over to Moleskines,
thanks in part to Tony Akins' malevolent influence.

I also still do a ton of quick-gesture sketching based on martial arts practice...
which, over the course of several years, sort of accidentally taught me
how to animate.

A Taste of Barsoom...

2008-06-18T08:37:00.000-07:00

Some very rough frames;
more as the story develops.

Thark in Sixty Seconds!

2008-06-11T14:45:00.000-07:00

Some results of getting back to basic training--
draw for 60 seconds, no erasing, stop & flip the page
& continue for a set period of time. It's a quick-gesture drill
from Master Animator Shamus Culhane's terrific book, and
it's a great, simple, productive tool for any artist.

The Chronicles of Martia(n)

2008-06-04T11:07:00.000-07:00

Got a wild hair to design some whimsical Barsoomians--
"Tharks", I think Edgar Rice Burroughs named 'em. The
tough part is to keep from unconsciously aping Steve Rude's
marvelous "Gucci Quattro" design from Nexus..the best Tharks
ever, aside from Frazetta's.

"..She's a MAN, Baby!"

2008-05-25T08:52:00.000-07:00

This is a comp-rough for a new cover
for my friends at the American Kettlebell Club,
Eric Liford & Valery Fedorenko...
Just a rough-in-progress, 'cause the Kettleball Babe needs work.
She may be, I am loath to admit, a tad "mannish"....

Cyberdyne-ing

2008-04-11T11:09:00.001-07:00

When creatively bankrupt, fall back
upon the tried & true "Metal Hurlant"
tics & mannerisms...right?

Nineteen Seventies

2008-03-24T17:15:00.000-07:00

This is a warmup for an upcoming project...
although the shirt definitely looks like it's from 1983.
More research is called for...

FLOW/BE!

2008-02-12T10:44:00.002-08:00

Here's a character in progress,
done for Scott Sonnon's excellent RMAX site...

The Pandas of November...

2007-11-19T10:37:00.000-08:00

Yes, it's Panda Awareness Week (P.A.W.) here in Illinois.
Bet you didn't know that. So, take a moment to kindly
consider the fate of he who eats shoots & leaves.

Kirby Appreciation...

2007-09-24T08:58:00.000-07:00

Just did a birthday card image for a good friend,
and it turned into a thinly-veiled excuse to study
& attempt to learn from Jack "King" Kirby for a day.
What a guy...

Rob's not so bad, either.

"The Venture Bros." thumbnails...

2007-08-10T11:44:00.000-07:00

I'm lucky enough to be working on Cartoon Network's "The Venture Bros.",
a very successful part of the "Adult Swim" block of programming. Turns out
my old chum George Fort, artist extraordinaire, is also working on the show...
a small, small, tiny world we live on.

Here are a few thumbnails..it's a huge job, so there will be a lot of stuff posted.

"L'Armour", or: "Proof that I'm 25% French"

2007-07-17T12:01:00.000-07:00

This started as an automatic sketch while on the phone;
...and THEN what happened? Did Jean "Moebius" Gireaud bite me?
Eventually I'll add color to this. C'est la vie!

Let Freedom Ring

2007-07-04T16:28:00.000-07:00

"I have come to the conclusion that one useless man is called a disgrace;
that two are called a law firm, and that three or more become a Congress!
And by God, I have had this Congress! For ten years, King George and his Parliament have gulled,
cullied, and diddled these colonies with their illegal taxes! Stamp Acts, Townshend Acts, Sugar Acts,
Tea Acts! And when we dared stand up like men, they have stopped our trade, seized our ships,
blockaded our ports, burned our towns, and spilled our BLOOD! And still, this Congress refuses
to grant ANY of my proposals on independence, even so much as the courtesty of open debate!
Good God, what in hell are you waiting for?"

-John Adams

I am a Lineman for the county...of Gotham.

2007-06-29T09:44:00.000-07:00

"Batfeller: The Truck Knight", con't....

2007-06-29T09:33:00.000-07:00

This little parody was drawn on the set of "The Dark Knight",
currently filming in Chicago.
I had the pleasure of being an extra for a day, and had to do something
during the considerable amount of sit-n'-wait...I've been kickin' around
notions for "Batfeller" for a while now,
and it's nice to finally put pen to paper.

...Batfeller.

2007-06-25T12:12:00.000-07:00

The Dark Knight he'ps them City Folk...
but rural crime is at an all-time high.
Who you gonna call? And by "call", I mean "holler"...
I don't believe the Truck Knight has a phone.

...What a Rack!

2007-06-14T16:19:00.001-07:00

When in doubt,
draw a Russian holding two 32kg competition Giri
in the "racked" position.
Avast, ye kettlebell nerds! This one's digitally watermarked.
No useage without express permission by Yours Truly.

Alaskan Blue Bear...

2007-06-13T09:49:00.000-07:00

..I don't know what it means, either.
But it's got me on an animal-drawring binge.
Follow your Bliss! But if you Bliss turns on you,
curl into a fetal position and protect your head & neck.
That's the first thing your Bliss will go after,
according to Timothy Treadwell.

Addendum to the 2nd Amendment...

2007-06-12T13:46:00.000-07:00

"...getting the bear arms right."

Have to do some research on this.

Bear with me.

2007-06-12T12:47:00.000-07:00

Okay, okay, okay.
I'm getting back on the Blog-wagon, so help me.

Don Cheadle.

2007-06-12T12:44:00.000-07:00

A warm-up sketch.
Why Don Cheadle?
'Cause I loves me some Don Cheadle.

True Romance comix...

2007-06-12T12:29:00.000-07:00

These thumbnails are from a short story written by Steve Darnall.
one of these days I'll drop it into "Comic Life " & add word ballons,
that is, if I can ever find his original script...

Summer of the Turtles...

2007-02-27T18:06:00.000-08:00

This is an artifact from 1991, when
the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles creators
threw a metric ton o' Lindens at the funnybook world,
created the publishing imprint 'Mirage",
and published some oddball stuff...until their
accountants advised them to stop doing so.
Anyway, this was among the weird little books;
three issues with Stefan Petrucha, originally titled "BodyParts".
The Jeff Fahey movie prompted the unfortunate change.

"Remember, Conan: rape, pillage, THEN burn!"

2007-02-27T17:58:00.000-08:00

A few pages from when I was, inexplicably, the penciller on Marvel's ill-fated CONAN revival...
Fun stuff to draw, but I had no real connection with the character. When I visited the Marvel offices in '95,
I got to meet the late great John Buscema as he was thumbing through various Conan pages, commenting
surgically on the inadequacies of the current art, and I kinda wanted to sink into the floor.

"Santino...where's Andrey?"

2007-02-26T15:32:00.000-08:00

I doubt that Tim Gunn was referring to Andrey Kuzmin,
a young russian Girevoy Sport athlete...
This image was done for Andrey's Cafe Press items.

The Legion of Superheroes

2007-02-21T09:53:00.000-08:00

..that is to say, "Legion of Superheroes" raw storyboards, from the WB cartoon.
I clean 'em up after the initial roughs, but they're always more fun this way.
This episode will air this coming Saturday on a Kid's WB station near you (check local listings.)

Featured Creatures.

2007-02-21T08:45:00.000-08:00

Some critter-concepts for a gaming company...
difficult to render with polygons or non-uniform rational B-splines,
but still...a good time was had.

The Stick Detective, revisited...

2007-02-20T22:44:00.000-08:00

A few more sketches from the development
of Dick Stick, the Stick Dick.

"Tales From The Kettle-Ball..."

2006-10-17T06:35:00.000-07:00

This was done for "Hard-Style", a catalog-mag from DragonDoor.
A pleasure...they had an amazingly deep pool of experienced badasses at DD.

"It's fun to charter an accountant, and sail the wide accountancy.."

2006-10-07T23:51:00.000-07:00

More pencils from of the same very odd "piracy" project.

...Piracy is a Crime.

2006-10-07T23:44:00.000-07:00

Pages from another recent comics project;
piracy is a major part of the story. Written
by my old pal Joe Judt. We go WAYYY back...

Blick! Herauf in den Himmel! Es Ist... Uber-Mädchen?

2006-09-26T20:34:00.000-07:00

Some sketches...Kids' WB/CW is threatening to reintroduce Supergirl in the Legion,
should the show be a success. Fingers crossed...

Lance Barnes Post-Nuke Dick, RIP...

2006-09-20T15:43:00.000-07:00

Some images from a weird little comic series I drawed for Marvel's EPIC imprint,
written by the very talented Stefan Petrucha.
Lance was a luck-impaired private eye, responsible for the nuclear conflagration
that resulted in a post-apocalyptic "Mad Max" scenario. A real knee-slapper.
One of the few comics that was actually smart & darkly funny,
if I may say so. I floated MY boat, anyway. Ahh, Stefan...

Maximum Bruise-ology

2006-09-16T12:00:00.000-07:00

Here are a few items done for Dr. Scott Sonnon's RMAX organization.
Scott is a good guy on the bleeding edge of athletic performance,
re-explaining & debunking arcane health practices,
& making general-to-specific fitness methods accessible.

Vikings & Robots!

2006-09-16T11:53:00.000-07:00

Why? Because Norsemen & Cyborgs go together like..like...
uh...

The White Russian

2006-09-11T18:37:00.000-07:00

I've done quite a bit of work the past couple of years for
some of the exceptional physical culturists, teachers & coaches I have met...
chief among these guys is Pavel Tsatsouline, a brilliant synthesizer of cutting-edge
Soviet & American training methods.

Del Close...but no cigar.

2006-09-01T20:36:00.000-07:00

I've sat on this idea for over three years...
just dunno where to go with it, publishing-wise.
Del was an interesting dude. An understatement, that.

...Squidward Tentacles!

2006-08-31T15:49:00.000-07:00

Some inked pages & thumbnails from an as-yet-unpublished project.
I am loath to say more, lest I get Monkey-Slapped.

It's pronounced "SPEEDER-min".

2006-08-31T15:06:00.000-07:00

...Some pencils for a proposed Spidey/Prowler series written by my pal Kim "Howard" Johnson.

Friends Of Ol' Marvel

2006-08-24T13:30:00.000-07:00

A few pages from my days at Merry Marvel.
Plenty more where these came from, lemme tell ya.

Blunderbuss-Fu

2006-08-24T13:25:00.000-07:00

Or maybe that's a Space-Bassoon.
Concept art for an online RPG.

Supergirl, interrupted...

2006-08-23T10:11:00.000-07:00

This was an experiment with Fractal Painter...
it's a clumsier interface than Photoshoppe,
but I loved some of the more intuitive effects.
Gotta try the more recent version of Corel Painter
& see if it's still as awkward...

More Nam-Tab Beyond...

2006-08-23T08:10:00.001-07:00

The above was an audition for WB director Dan Riba;
the Sphinxy-Minx was Talia, introduced into the "future Gotham" storyline.
Eventually Timm & Co. DID re-introduce Talia, but in a much more disturbing & creepy manner...

Tune in today for...Batman Tomorrow!

2006-08-23T08:01:00.000-07:00

Here's a storyboard from my time on "Batman Beyond"
( the WB was considering calling it "Batman Tomorrow" for a while..)
Good times.

On Wings of Turkeys...

2006-08-22T17:54:00.000-07:00

This concept's development paralleled, unbeknownst to me & my partners,
the development of the CGI cartoon "Valiant"...and, half-baked as I thought that movie
was, there was some merit to the initial concept. Ahh well...Hollywoodland always clusters three
submarine movies together, why not carrier-pigeon epic(s)? Great minds think alike...

...Atten-HUT!

2006-08-22T17:33:00.000-07:00

Some animation backgrounds...it's where Gilligan lives. Or Mowgli.
Or maybe that guy in the gorilla suit who terrorizes the Stooges when they're making that Caveman picture.
If only I could remember...

Stick it to the Man.

2006-08-22T17:24:00.000-07:00

More concept art from Dick Stick.
Colored by the esteemed Bradley "Vegan" Gibbs, painter extra-ordinaire.

Unpublished Works

2006-08-22T17:16:00.000-07:00

These are artifacts of the late '90's...
Dick Stick, a.k.a "The Stick Detective".
I'd still like to see this get published in some form...someday.

Girevoy Ho!

2006-08-22T13:26:00.000-07:00

I bid you a cheese fondue.

2006-08-22T13:11:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my blog.
Enter freely, and of your own will.